"C'mon,
Bones!" Booth pleaded. "Just try it. For me?" He looked at her
with puppy dog eyes and a hopeful expression.

Damn him.

"I'm
sorry, but no," Brennan replied firmly. "I can't. I have to
finish this." Frowning slightly, she gestured at the incomplete
skeleton on the table in front of her, its features almost
unrecognizable by its burns.

It had
already taken her the better part of the day to get this much done
and she was tired. The last thing she needed was to be further
distracted from it. Dr Goodman was expecting a report from her by the
next day.

"Sure
you can," Booth argued, gently grabbing her arm with one hand. "You
can finish this tomorrow. I'll even help clean up."

"Piecing
the rest of the victim together is going to take me hours, Booth. I
really can't. Dr Goodman wants…"

"Dr
Goodman wants you to go take a break," he put in. "I told him
that you need some time off work and he agreed." He handed her a
slip of paper with Dr Goodman's signature and a short note of
confirmation.

"But –
"

"Bones!"
Booth shot her a warning glance. "He also gave me permission to
drag you out of here if you refuse to cooperate."

Brennan
glanced down at the skeleton once more and sighed. As much as she
hated to leave her work unfinished, it was very tempting. Several
hours spent sorting through charcoaled human remains could do that to
a girl. She chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip. "He really gave
you permission?"

Just under
fourteen minutes later – Booth timed it – Brennan joined him.
"Ready to do this?" he asked, placing a hand on the small of her
back as he led her outside.

"Funny."
Brennan rolled her eyes.

"You
see," Booth went on, letting her comment slip past, "this is the
world outside of work." He gestured around them. "And I'm going
to show you how much it's changed since the last time you actually
made it out of the building…"

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